John Wayne: The Life and Legend

John Wayne projected dignity, integrity, and strength in all his films, even when his characters were flawed, and whatever character he played was always prepared to confront injustice in his own way. More than thirty years after his death, he remains the standard by which male stars are judged and an actor whose morally unambiguous films continue to attract sizeable audiences.

Amazon Customer says:"A Great Read, great story about one of America's"

But Enough About Me: A Memoir

Burt Reynolds has been a Hollywood leading man for six decades, known for his legendary performances, sex-symbol status, and storied Hollywood romances. In his long career of stardom, during which he was number one at the box office for five years in a row, Reynolds has seen it all. But Enough About Me will tell his story through the people he's encountered on his amazing journey.

Andy and Don: The Making of a Friendship and a Classic American TV Show

Andy Griffith and Don Knotts met on Broadway in the 1950s. When Andy went to Hollywood to film a TV pilot about a small-town sheriff, Don called to ask if the sheriff could use a deputy. The comedic synergy between Sheriff Andy Taylor and Deputy Barney Fife ignited The Andy Griffith Show, elevating a folksy sitcom into a timeless study of human friendship, as potent off the screen as on.

Cary Grant: A Biography

Bringing up Baby. The Philadelphia Story. North by Northwest. An Affair to Remember. When Cary Grant passed away at age 82, fans from every generation mourned. Nearly 20 years later his star shines just as brightly from television and revival-house screens; his name remains synonymous with effortless charm.

The Tom Hanks Enigma: The Biography of the World's Most Intriguing Movie Star

Tom Hanks is unquestionably one of the finest actors of his generation. With an array of stunning performances to his name, he has an outstanding reputation as one of the world's greatest leading men. With roles as diverse as Josh in Big and Woody in Toy Story to Chuck Noland in Castaway and Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, this award-winning star is ensured enduring popularity and box-office success.

Sir Michael Caine: The Biography

Born Maurice Micklewhite, son of a Billingsgate fish porter and a charlady, Michael Caine's life has been an extraordinary rollercoaster: from washing dishes and fighting on National Service, to winning two Oscars and being knighted by the Queen. With more than eighty films to his name, he has starred in some of the classics of modern cinema: as an action anti-hero in Get Carter, a Cockney lothario in Alfie, and a disillusioned alcoholic academic in Educating Rita. He is an enduring model of British cool.

Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn

Her name is synonymous with elegance, style, and grace. Over the course of her extraordinary life and career, Audrey Hepburn captured hearts around the world and created a public image that stands as one of the most recognizable and beloved in recent memory. But despite her international fame and her tireless efforts on behalf of UNICEF, Audrey was also known for her intense privacy.

The Nine of Us: Growing Up Kennedy

In this evocative and affectionate memoir, Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith, the last surviving child of Joe and Rose Kennedy, offers an intimate and illuminating look at a time long ago when she and her siblings, guided by their parents, laughed and learned a great deal under one roof.

Six-time Emmy Award-winning funnyman Tim Conway, best known for his characters on The Carol Burnett Show, offers a straight-shooting and hilarious memoir about his life on stage and off as an actor and comedian. In television history, few entertainers have captured as many hearts and made as many people laugh as Tim Conway. There's nothing in the world that Tim Conway would rather do than entertain - and in his first-ever memoir, What's So Funny?, that's exactly what he does.

Vincent Price: A Daughter's Biography

Since his death in 1993, Vincent Price's legacy as a Hollywood legend has only grown in stature. His lengthy and distinguished career - as the voice of The Saint on the radio; as an actor in such unforgettable horror films as House of Wax and The Fly, in classic movies such as Laura and The Song of Bernadette, and on popular TV shows such as Batman and The Brady Bunch; and as a star on the Broadway stage - spanned 65 years.

Dean and Me: A Love Story

In a memoir by turns moving, tragic, and hilarious, Jerry Lewis recounts with crystal clarity every step of a 50-year friendship, from the springtime, 1945 afternoon when the two vibrant young performers destined to conquer the world together met on Broadway and 54th Street, to their tragic final encounter in the 1990s, when Lewis and his wife ran into Dean Martin, a broken and haunted old man.

The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney

Mickey Rooney began his career almost a century ago as a one-year-old performer in burlesque and stamped his mark in vaudeville, silent and talking films, Broadway, and television. He acted in his final motion picture just weeks before he died at age 93. He was an iconic presence in movies and the poster boy for American youth. Yet, by World War II, Mickey Rooney had become frozen in time.

The Elephant to Hollywood

Charming, engaging, and surprisingly forthright, Michael Caine gives us his insider's view of Hollywood and the story of his brilliant second act. When he was in his late 50s, Michael Caine believed his Hollywood career had come to an end. The scripts being sent his way were worse and worse. Salvation came in the unlikely form of his old friend Jack Nicholson, who convinced him to give acting one more shot. What followed was one of the most radical comebacks in film history.

The Romanovs: 1613-1918

This is the intimate story of 20 tsars and tsarinas, some touched by genius, some by madness, but all inspired by holy autocracy and imperial ambition. Simon Sebag Montefiore's gripping chronicle reveals their secret world of unlimited power and ruthless empire building, overshadowed by palace conspiracy, family rivalries, sexual decadence, and wild extravagance, with a global cast of adventurers, courtesans, revolutionaries, and poets, from Ivan the Terrible to Tolstoy and Pushkin.

Frank: The Voice

Frank Sinatra was the best-known entertainer of the 20th century - infinitely charismatic, lionized, and notori­ous in equal measure. But despite his mammoth fame, Sinatra the man has remained an enigma. As Bob Spitz did with the Beatles, Tina Brown for Diana, and Peter Guralnick for Elvis, James Kaplan goes behind the legend and hype to bring alive a force that changed popular culture in fundamental ways.

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us - an ambitious urban entrepreneur who rose up the social ladder, from leather-aproned shopkeeper to dining with kings. In best-selling author Walter Isaacson's vivid and witty full-scale biography, we discover why Franklin turns to us from history's stage with eyes that twinkle from behind his new-fangled spectacles. In Benjamin Franklin, Isaacson shows how Franklin defines both his own time and ours. The most interesting thing that Franklin invented, and continually reinvented, was himself.

Jimmy Stewart: The Truth Behind the Legend

In this definitive biography of one of Hollywood's most beloved stars, Michael Munn reveals the truth behind the diffident, earnest and kindly persona of Jimmy Stewart. Drawn from the author's formal interviews and informal meetings with the star and his friendship with Stewart's wife, Gloria, is this portrait of a man who came from the Presbyterian traditions of Pennsylvania to become one of the silver screen's enduring legends.

Robert Redford: The Biography

Among the most widely admired Hollywood stars of his generation, Redford has appeared onstage and on-screen, in front of and behind the camera, earning Academy, Golden Globe, and a multitude of other awards and nominations for acting, directing, and producing, and for his contributions to the arts. His Sundance Film Festival transformed the world of filmmaking; his films defined a generation.

Crisis of Character: A White House Secret Service Officer Discloses His Firsthand Experience with Hillary, Bill, and How They Operate

Posted directly outside President Clinton's Oval Office, former Secret Service uniformed officer Gary Byrne reveals what he observed of Hillary Clinton's character and the culture inside the White House while protecting the first family in Crisis of Character, the most anticipated book of the 2016 election.

Eisenhower in War and Peace

Author of the best-seller FDR, Jean Edward Smith is a master of the presidential biography. Setting his sights on Dwight D. Eisenhower, Smith delivers a rich account of Eisenhower’s life using previously untapped primary sources. From the military service in WWII that launched his career to the shrewd political decisions that kept America out of wars with the Soviet Union and China, Smith reveals a man who never faltered in his dedication to serving America, whether in times of war or peace.

Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson

In Catch a Wave, Peter Ames Carlin pulls back the curtain on Brian Wilson, one of popular music's most revered luminaries, as well as its biggest mystery. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and never-before heard studio recordings, Carlin follows the Beach Boys from their earliest days through Brian's deepening emotional problems to his triumphant re-emergence with the release of Smile, the legendarily unreleased album he had originally shelved.

The End of Heart Disease: The Eat to Live Plan to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease

Dr. Joel Fuhrman, one of the country's leading experts on preventative medicine, offers his science-backed nutritional plan that addresses the leading cause of death in America: heart disease. An expert in the science of food, Dr. Fuhrman speaks directly to listeners who want to take control of their health and avoid taking medication or undergoing complicated, expensive surgery - the two standard treatments prescribed today.

A Carlin Home Companion: Growing Up with George

Truly the voice of a generation, George Carlin gave the world some of the most hysterical and iconic comedy routines of the last 50 years. He perfected the art of making audiences double over with laughter while simultaneously making people wake up to the realities (and insanities) of life in the 20th century. Few people glimpsed the inner life of this beloved comedian, but his only child, Kelly, was there to see it all.

Truman

Hailed by critics as an American masterpiece, David McCullough's sweeping biography of Harry S. Truman captured the heart of the nation. The life and times of the 33rd president of the United States, Truman provides a deeply moving look at an extraordinary, singular American.

Publisher's Summary

In the most penetrating and in-depth biography yet written about the beloved screen icon, award-winning author Donald Dewey delves beneath the persona into the usually unremarked turmoil of the actor's private life and behind the earnest Capraesque image so often accepted as the Stewart identity. He draws upon extensive research and nearly 200 interviews to follow Stewart from his hometown of Indiana, Pennsylvania, and a childhood shaped by a strong-willed father, to the fateful encounter at Princeton University with actress Margaret Sullavan, to his first professional theatrical experiences on Cape Cod and the forging of a remarkable life-long friendship with Henry Fonda in New York, to his unexpected stardom at MGM.

This audio book would have gotten 5 Stars if not for the hour and a half that starts this story....holy smokes....it lends nothing to the story of Jimmy Stewart. I have read 4 of the Stewart Bios over the last 20 years and this is by far the most in depth and most interesting - save the 1st hour or so - of them all. I particularly enjoyed learning about his youth and discovering where his values came from. Highly recomend but skip the first hour or so.

This biography might be better if the author were not so critical of Stewart's values of work and discipline. Apparently, this author views the Scots-Irish as about a foot less intolerant than the Klan. The guy is also quite unfortunately anti-intellectual, taking gratuitous pot-shots at academic material that he obviously does not understand or where he has clearly missed the point. Most of the negativity is not necessary and produces a kind of ambivalent view even of Stewart himself.

James Stewart was and is one of the best loved movie stars of all time.A biography of this complex and very private man was a monumental task, but author Donald Dewey managed to create a portrait that not only reveals the real Stewart, but pays tribute to the man and his art.It is full of great insider tidbits to please any hollywood trivia buff, as well as many unknown facts about the young Stewart. Stewart's movies are summarized and analyzed, but Dewey is careful not to let the book become one long movie review.All in all,this is a well done and complete biography. An excellent book.

I am a big fan of Jimmy Stewart and I was looking forward to this book! What I was not prepaired for was the negative attitude the author had toward Jimmy Stewart. After the first hour and a half all I could think was 1) why did Donald Dewey even bother writting this book if he hates JS so much. and 2) I really hated myself for wasting my money on buying this book. But, after you get thru the 1.5 hour overview of his life and you get into the details of Jimmy's life the book becomes much more enjoyable. If you buy the book do yourself a favor and skip thru the first 1.5 hours and you will enjoy the details of his life much more. The details of his life are done in great detail.

Enjoyed this story about America's beloved actor. Loved reading about his youth and what brought him to films. Definitely a must read for film buffs and those who enjoy understanding the person behind the icon.

Most of us love and admire actor James Stewart, and I started this book in hopes of learning more about him as a man. What was his wife Gloria like? Was Henry Fonda really his best friend? What were his favorite movie experiences? Who were his favorite directors and co-stars?

I learned ALL of that, and so, technically, the book was a success.

However, it was a little bit TOO detailed and quite dry.

For example, J.S. attended Mercersburg Academy (Pa.). Author Donald Dewey wrote much more than I cared to know about M.A., its founding, and its head master. The same can be said about the author's description of Indiana, Pa. (J.S.'s hometown), etc., etc.

So I recommend this book for factual content, but don't expect anything more than that.

I appreciate the idea that the author Don Dewey has challenged the elevated myth and urban legend of James Stewart. Unfortunately the foundation of "James Stewart: A Biography" is built around countless mediocre and mostly negative reviews of Stewart's films and media projects. Any meaningful insight of Stewart's life is eventually spun into a cynical and lengthy conjecture questioning the actor’s motives, weird references to rumors of his sexuality or building a case for his failing health. Considering Stewart lived until 89 the author's fascination with the actor's weight and frail state throughout the entire book was particularly annoying.

The core revelation towards the end of the book, Stewart’s deep-seated racism is based on a TV producer’s recollection and second hand family stories that as far as I know, the actor never publicly demonstrated or shared within the media, considering he campaigned and fund raised for many politicians throughout his life he certainly had the opportunity. I'm guessing that most people would not be shocked that someone born 1908 had views that by today's standards are considered racist and Dewey in my opinion did not build this case.

Dewey's other revelation that the actor may have been suffering from depression after the death of his son or less interesting film work being offered is somewhat obvious and anticlimactic. Indeed, the last few pages of this book end abruptly as if the author began to place himself into a state of deep boredom.

I was hoping that this book would have dove deeper into Stewart's world and been built around more substantive interviews and observations of the actors life. Perhaps Stewart's friends and family are not ready to fully open up, perhaps James Stewart was for the most part, what we saw on the screen. Regardless, this book is a stretch with little revelations and out of the 18 hours - about 9 of them could have easily been edited away.